SPRING LAKE -- Police in the town of Spring Lake northwest of Fayetteville are searching for man charged with posing as a policeman who then sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

Area media outlets report that 28-year-old Nathan Lynn Cooley of Spring Hill is charged with first degree kidnapping and taking indecent liberties with a child.

Authorities say that Cooley is a registered sex offender convicted of two previous child sex crimes.

Police say the incident happened on Tuesday when a man in a car approached a young girl walking to the library after school. The man said he was a police officer searching for his dog and then took the child to the woods and assaulted her.